Sunday, October 31, 2004
Bliss
When the baby has a mostly happy, wide awake yet not revenous morning, and when she does start to fuss, quiets down and goes to sleep in her swing even as I clean the sink area with us giving her a bath in mind.
Ah… bliss.
Not only that, we got tons of sleep overnight, especially me. It helps to go to bed at 8:30 or so. And this morning I got my first picture of her smiling! Almost missed it. She did the routine of smiling repeatedly at me when she saw me in the morning, then I thought of getting the camera and she stopped the “it’s daddy!!” act and got fussy. I managed to capture one elusive flashbulb smile that happened a few minutes into the fussiness. Go me.
So now we need to take showers bathe Sadie go to BJ’s go to Wal-Mart maybe visit my mother maybe see about an alternator and I have to go to the office and play with the server with the barfing tape backup and spend one to several hours there and be home in time for trick or treaters if we are going to have any. Which we probably will, at least in the form of my brother’s kids. They only live five minutes or so away and aren’t too old, as many of my nieces and nephews now are.
Given the above laundry list, you may not see much blogging today. But hey, at least Sadie is sleeping peacefully right now! Hooray for baby swings.
Goofy Quiz, Fitting Outcome
I’ve been boycotting Quizilla ever since it infected my computer with intense malware months ago, but I’m using Firefox now and couldn’t resist this one seen at Your Moosey Fate. It’s an appropriate result, considering my ancestry…
You’re Prince Edward Island. You’re a happy person,
love life, and seldom complain. You’re able to
see the best in any situation.You do live a
g-rated life and tend towards things
mainstream. People like you, unless they’re
depressed.
What Canadian Province Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla
Saturday, October 30, 2004
Not Exactly Rocket Science
A favorite reader and commenter of ours started her own blog! Ha, I knew she couldn’t resist for long…
How cool is Caltechgirl? Pictured below is the gift she made and sent us for Sadie:
We were just totally overwhelmed. Not that she’s the only one who has done such a thing, but she was first and we were especially surprised.
Anyway, we will be watching her blog with great interest, and so should you.
I Hate Cars. How Is Your Day?
My brother came over to continue my adventure with the starter in my van, a 1993 Plymouth Voyager. He got it out by removing the 3rd bolt I was unaware of, aided by the fact the replacement only had two bolt holes, and undoing the electrical connections that were not exactly the same (but close) as the ones on the replacement. It also helped that he brought a floor jack.
We ended up back at Autozone and had a completely problem-free exchange, plus I got pads and rotors, which were cheap even for the good ones. The guy there was great, and now that I have dealt with him twice, I think he may be my cousin’s kid. How funny. That would explain why he looked familiar. While we were out, I treated my brother’s four hyper little rats adorable kids to McDonald’s, which kept them in check while my brother put the new starter in.
Turn the key… nothing.
Check the power and clean the battery posts and clamps… nothing.
Jump the battery from Deb’s truck for a few minutes… sounds a lot like the sound of “needing a starter.”
Jump for longer and longer… try periodically… it just won’t start, grinding and balking. It appears that something is drawing power at all times, which could help explain the dead as a doornail battery. The battery is such a good one and recent enough I would expect as many as five more years reliable use out of it.
Tried jumping from my brother’s car, no dice. We didn’t try my cables, which are high quality, heavy duty ones (bought in part because I was tired of too short cables that frazzled easily), but I doubt cheap ones made that big a difference.
Eventually he had to take the hellions little angels home. It was cool they got to meet their new cousin and rearrange our house. Just before he left, we undertook my idea of putting the newer but not as extreme quality battery from the Sentra into the van. That was highly enthusiastic, but didn’t quite start. Something grinds and squeals and sounds pretty unhappy.
Meanwhile, the van’s battery started the Sentra, if not with total enthusiasm. Idea was I could charge it that way rather than putting it for several hours on the old battery charger I have.
As we speak, the Sentra has been sitting out there, cabled to the van, charging the van’s temporary battery for going on an hour. Meant to go back out sooner.
IF it will start and keep being able to start, I can get the brakes replaced by my brother Monday night. Nothing like cutting it close!
See, Deb’s parents will be here Tuesday, needing to be picked up at Logan something like 5 PM. I can go there in the Sentra, get them and their luggage, and drive them back here, where they can then see Sadie and Deb. From here they’ll drive Deb’s truck (which started right up like a champ after several weeks… maybe even 3 months or so) while they are in the area.
It would be sooooo much nicer if the three of us could get in the van, drive to the airport, pick them up, and have them able to see Sadie at the first possible chance. Not to mention Deb is allowed to drive now and will need the van in order to drive anywhere with Sadie. Not to mention it’s warmer and nicer in the winter than the van, though the van handles at least as well in snow and ice. At least to me, preferring a standard shift.
Cars. Sigh…
Here’s hoping it’ll start now, and will get over itself afterward. I suspect enough of a problem that it may yet end up in a shop for more than the overdue oil change (which I’d have done myself this week if it weren’t such a pain to get rid of the used oil).
Update:
Aha! It cranked with great enthusiasm, but squealed like a hardcore Democrat on November 3rd. One who’s been caught at election fraud and yet has seen his candidate lose anyway.
I had a good look at the belt and pulleys, at least the top one connected to the alternator. The alternator is fine to the eye and cool to the touch, but the pulley could be used to brand cattle at the Fried Pulley Ranch.
Called and left my brother a voicemail, since he had asked how it went before I went out there, then had to leave on errands with the wife and miniature domestic terrorists little squirts. My question is whether it is the alternator per se that is dead, or some other thing causing a siezed pulley. I’m guessing it’s all one with the alternator and Autozone will see me again. At least alternators are traditionally fairly easy to replace.
I see this as a bad news and good news thing. Another part to replace, but an explanation and solution appears at hand, and if the problem can be identified, the car can be fixed and used. And still with no garage needed.
Speaker to the Dead
Kelley has much to say to the reanimated dead guy in the latest “Osama Bin Laden” video. Which we all know was actually orchestrated by Karl Rove in an effort to solidify the Bush win on December 13th.
Dad Update
My father arrived home from the hospital Friday and is doing fine. Just has to take it easy and be careful. He can’t talk on the phone because he can’t hold his arm up that long or keep his head in that position.
I just remembered after getting the update that this all means he won’t be coming down to Massachusetts and meeting Deb’s parents while they are here. That’s too bad. But far more important that he’s okay and doesn’t strain himself, as he has a habit of doing after surgery or by working again when he’s still very sick. Good thing he’s retired now.
Blogger Endorsements
Looks like the blog endorsement thing is going around, and there are some good ones out there. The best and simplest is probably Frank’s, which relies heavily on pictures for those who may have trouble with complex issues like the ones he concentrates on as maximally important.
Megan finally breaks free of that Lovin’ Spoonful feeling and also makes an endorsement at room temperature, if the room isn’t overheated. She goes point by point, comparing the two in far more complex detail than I feel the need to pursue.
Jeff has been agonizing about the decision too, and has finally not endorsed, but “settled" on a choice. I am not so sure I would agree that Kerry is “probably a decent guy.” I think he can act like a decent guy, but is one of the worst, least fundamentally decent candidates we’ve had running for President. I could be misreading him, as I have a tendency to assume people are fundamentally better than they actually are sometimes.
One thing Jeff really gets is the economics and farce of the Canada drug importation thing. Part of it is a great analogy paragraph:
It’s like saying, “Hey, I know of a gas station that sells regular for 99 cents.” Everyone goes there and waits on line and the station runs out and in the meantime, other stations have to charge the real price for finding new sources of oil.
What it comes down to most of all, as the post title expresses, is a comparison of the company Bush and Kerry keep. From that perspective, troubling as Bush is on some points (which he is to me too, cheerleaderish as I sound most of the time), there is no contest. I found Jeff’s post especially worth reading, no matter its relative length.
Jim has less faith than I do in both the moderating influence of the rest of the government and the more centered people in the party, and sees Bush as far more conservative in fact than I do. Still, he has made an endorsement and finds the choice clear if unsatisfactory.
Charles would love none of the above as an option. Definitely a cool idea I have looked upon fondly since I first heard of it a couple decades ago. However, he does the elimination and picks which of the two evils is left.
No doubt there are other bloggers out there whose endorsements I missed when putting this together. Just thought it’d be fun to have a roundup when I saw them popping up so many places.
I don’t think I need to tell you who we endorse, if you’ve paid any attention to this blog at all. If I can, I will write at length about where I stand this weekend. Right now I am so tired this whole post probably sounds like crap. If you’re still thinking about the options, or if you’re curious how others are arriving at or feeling about their selections, these are worth perusing.
Friday, October 29, 2004
President Pedant
I’ve noticed that many people use president when they mean, as I learned it in school, President. Citibank’s president. America’s President. No cap. Cap.
I wonder if they don’t teach this anymore, or not universally, or if it’s a conscious decision to change the accepted usage through, well, usage.
For what it’s worth, I tend to take it a step further and use the initial cap in other forms. For instance: John Kerry is not Presidential. I am not saying he appears unqualified on the face of it to be president of the local yacht club. I am saying he appears unqualified on the face of it to be the President, as in “of the United States.”
Seriously, though, is it an old-fashioned affectation that went out of style after the seventies and eighties when I learned it, or is it just another one of those things?
“Spared” Indeed
Via Kate comes the most fun since Elf Bowling, which I also sucked at but not as much. It’s Cat Bowling. That variable speed arrow really get me. Best score so far was 105. Second best, my first game, was 86.
Who You Gonna Call?
Still deciding or uncertain that you have made the right decision? Here’s a good question that may help you put it all in perspective.
Repeat After Me: Reee - PUH - blick
Deb just called me into the living room in time to see part of the PBS show with the Wall Street Journal guys, including Taranto.
Apart from the slight tear in the space-time continuum, which will no doubt grow to destroy us all Real Soon Now, caused by the presence of a generally conservative leaning set of talking heads being allowed on PBS, it was pretty good. Except for the remarkably stupid woman who has no understanding of the purpose and nature of the electoral college or the intentional structuring of this country as not a straight democracy at the national level. That was pretty bad.
We’re Gonna Send Send Dean Zeppelin Schoolin’
Dean wonders what is it about Led Zeppelin; what’s the point. He doesn’t get it (you might say they go over like a lead balloon), so if you have thoughts, you might like to help him out. I added mine, but I’m not sure I made any sense.
Important Milestone
Hey, I forgot to mention what today is! Do you know? Sure you do.
Sadie is one month old today!
Something you’ll find out kid is that this is the last time a single month matters, unless someday you are an extremely high maintenance girlfriend to some poor guy who can’t remember that this is the one month anniversary of the day you met, or the day you first went out, or the day he kneeled and kissed your ring, or whatever.
Since we will have raised you, that is unlikely, unless you get abducted and behaviorally modified by aliens or Democrats or something.
It is, however, an important milestone for you and others who reach the age of a month intact. It means you have motivated no serious acts of defenestration on your person by your parental units. Go you! And that means you probably are out of danger.
We may coo that you are two months, three months, etc. later, but the next one that matters is six months. The others are only because we can’t say “oh, she’s one” to express your age. As people go, you’re still fractal. Perhaps that’s why you sow chaos.
Chaos. Isn’t that what they’re calling that stuff these days? Certainly gets around the censors.
Anyway, happy monthaversary or whatever squirt. Can’t really call it an anniversary, can we? Cuz the root of that word is foreign for year, and it won’t be a year for an objective eleven more months, and a subjective shorter or longer, depending how teething and stuff goes, and what we choose to remember, and who gets elected.
Kaboom
I can go weeks in which my big client barely needs me, though there is normally enough routine or accumulated, “need to do sometime” work to keep me surprisingly busy. It’s just more optional.
Once in a while something happens that is more intense.
Yesterday I was mahnly and attempted to replace the starter in my van, which we need fixed by Tuesday. I couldn’t get it out or figure out how to disconnect it electrically after taking the two big bolts out that do most of the work of holding it in. As I told Deb while holding up my blackened hands, “this is why I work on computers.” Called my brother, who’d volunteered to do it as well as the brakes in the first place, and he will be coming over Saturday to help me out. That is THE priority for the weekend, apart from getting ready for the arrival of Deb’s parents on Tuesday.
I’m feeling bad that my mother hasn’t gotten a visit with Sadie, apart from a fleeting visit at the hospital, so I wouldn’t have minded trying to run over there this weekend for a little while. The reluctance to commune with my mother can be understood as simply as knowing the visit to the hospital was something she did after I said we weren’t having any visitors there, when she apologized that she would be too busy to visit. She objected so to our preference not to have visitors that she made a point of it. That’s my mother.
We also have shopping to do. I was looking at a busy weekend.
So the client’s SQL Server has a DAT tape* backup, with which we use Veritas Backup Exec, a superlative product. Suddenly it won’t eject the tape and is giving a hardware error on the server. I tried rebooting the server in hopes it would go away that easily. No dice.
Now I have to come in this weekend, try to get it working or determine that the tape drive needs to be replaced, and if it isn’t going to work, do some manual backups of key data to make up for the lack of tape backups. If it isn’t going to work, it’s going to be a crazy week while I get them back to having nightly backups one way or another. Last year the oldest server dies and we made do without replacing it, but I had planned to and wanted that also to have a tape drive to take the load off the now ailing one on the second oldest server. If the drive is dead, we may end up getting an entirely new machine and I’ll have that to install.
I’m trying to nurse all the old stuff into next year and replace the whole pile with completely new, well planned stuff, including network switches to replace the old hubs. It seems to keep objecting to being put off that long.
NaNoWriMo
I can’t believe it’s almost that time again already...and I can’t believe my reason for not participating. When I decided to skip it last year, I figures my life would be more settled by this year and it wouldn’t be a problem at all to do it now. Heh. The innocently laid plans of mice and writers…
Reminded of it by Jaynee, who isn’t playing either...
CotC Reminder and Stuff
Will Pate hosts this week’s Carnival of the Capitalists. Send your business and economics blogging entries to cotcmail -at- gmail -dot- com by Sunday evening.
I’m especially excited about this one because Will is blogging from Prince Edward Island, where my father’s father came from, and where most people named Ellis are related to me. I love the place, and sadly have not been there since 1998. I spent 11 days in PEI and Nova Scotia (where my other grandfather was born) that summer, for a family reunion and general vacation. Perhaps I could scan and post some pictures eventually.
Schilling and 9/11
I had no idea Curt Schilling was that utterly cool, despite his commercials and his performance on the mound.
Petrified Truth has some other good stuff as well that you might want to check out.
Carnival of the Recipes Is Up
Wow, This week’s Carnival of the Recipes is huge! You should really check it out for lots of yummy sounding ideas. It’s hosted by SarahK of Mountaineer Musings, who did a fine job and managed to get a link from Frank J., adding to the excitement.
First Rule of Iron Giant…
You do not talk about Iron Giant.
That’s a Fight Club inspired joke one of my friends used to come out with regularly, when I would talk about how great Iron Giant was and how inexplicably absurd Warner Brothers was for their mismarketing, downright ugly stepchilding of it. What, you didn’t see it? Well of course not! Warner Brothers apparently didn’t want you to. The only question was whether they didn’t know what they had, hated Brad Bird that much, or wanted an excuse to get out of animation. If they weren’t exactly applying Tim’s rule of not talking about it at all, they at least avoided marketing it with any enthusiasm or understanding of what they had. Ho-hum, yup, we’re releas- yawn -ing this kid’s- yawn -movie and you should- yawn -go see it or- yawn -whatever, but only if you- yawn - want to and have noth- yawn -ing better to do like- yawwwwnnn - sleep. Yeah, sleep!
Anyway, via Dean comes the news that there is a special edition Iron Giant DVD being released in November. Cool. More opportunity not to miss this work of art.
Thursday, October 28, 2004
Registration?
There have been 12 comment spams today.
That is on par with what we’d traditionally expect in the course of a month. It’s been building to that the past few days.
I have turned on censoring, eliminated the curses and added some key expressions designed to render the spams less useful even if I don’t delete them. I seem to have hit on a way, accidentally, in which using that will wipe out the entire content of a comment spam except the “name” of who posted it and the associated URL. Which can’t be affected by the censoring, or modified short of deletion.
Since I don’t want them to have the satisfaction of even having that URL picked up and strengthened in search engines, I have been deleting. That’s not that difficult or tedious, but it irritates me each time I have to do it.
Make that 13 today…
I love getting comments. I love freely leaving comments without having to register. I don’t end up registering most places where it is required, and because centralization and trying to be the Microsoft of blogging tools feels reprehensible, am explicitly refusing to register with Typekey or, as a result, comment anywhere it’s required.
Therefore it is with great trepidation that I even think about requiring registration to comment here. This is why I am asking what people think of it. Regular commenters?
This will be moot if we mosey on over to Expression Engine, as it has more options than pMachine for handling the scum.
Update:
Aw fudge! I just figured out that whatever I did to the censoring to make the spam comments unexpectedly be blank has made ALL comments blank. Doh!
Update again:
Fixed. The inclusion of entire URLs in the censored list apparently caused it to blank all comments.
Not Difficult At All
This is a superlative post by Mrs. duToit. She points out that Kerry is a socialist, no matter how much he is called a Democrat, and notes by comparison that LaRouche called himself a Republican. Socialism is a failed experiment; end of story.
I loved the Sucrets anecdote. There really are people who would react that way. “On another planet” would be a polite way to describe it. The planet Illucid. Trouble is, Illucidarians have the vote. They can even become nominees.
Another part I related to:
We spent a lot of time talking about “personal truths” with our kids--the concept that some people put on blinders to things that disagree with personal decisions they’ve made about life. If someone believes that things like happiness are scarce, all they will see is proof of their personal truth. They will blind themselves to anything that contradicts their beliefs.
I never thought about the concept using this term or level of clarity, but I certainly have observed it. It’s why there are friends with whom political and sometimes other topics cannot be discussed if friends are what we wish to remain. Even if they aren’t quite to the point of Sucrets denial, they are well on their way. I’ve seen it in non-political areas as well.
Dueling Earworms
We had to rush out the door for Sadie’s one month checkup at 8:15 AM, so I couldn’t post this sooner.
Talk about earworms, this is about as bad as it gets. For some reason, out of the blue, in the shower I suddenly realized that “Billy Don’t Be A Hero” was running through my head over and over. Augh!
Then the theme from the Roadrunner popped into my head! So I’m going “Roadrunner, the Coyote’s after you, Roadrunner, if he catches you you’re through” and thinking that’s better.
But no, Billy wouldn’t stop being heroic, came back, and bounced back and forth with Roadrunner. Finally they melded together into one song, sort of like Scarborough Fair/Canticle… “Billy, Roadrunner, don’t be a hero, the Coyote’s after you...”
Not sure how my brain managed that, but it’s a scary place sometimes.
Who’s Your Candidate For Business?
BusinessPundit Rob invites readers to make a case for Bush or Kerry from a business perspective, which is something different both for his blog and from the topics usually associated with arguing for your favored candidate. I think the choice for business is nearly as much a no-brainer as the choice for security, but it’ll be interesting to see what people have to say over there.
They’re So Vain, I Bet They Think This Post Is About Them
Maddy, my favorite unrelated 13 year old, who is way too young to retire from blogging, has the latest Carnival of the Vanities for your blog exploring pleasure.
Is it my imagination, or are there far fewer entries than there once were in a given CotV?
Wednesday, October 27, 2004
WOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOO!!!!!!!
Congratulations Red Sox. It’s about time!
American Coup
John Hospers, first Libertarian Party candidate for President, overlaps some of the points that have been cooking around in my mind for a potential post with a Whittle-esque title of “control,” and is worth a read even if you are not a Libertarian per se. Sometimes a protest vote and the influence on the mainstream a third party can bring to bear is the thing. Sometimes the stakes are too high. Via Rob Sama, check out this open letter to libertarians.
Well, that was humbling.
I put the baby in the sling and went for a walk around the block.
We’ve got a way to go, folks. Heh.
Warning: Excessive Cuteness Alert
Can’t get enough Sadie pictures? Well then, here’s another fix for you.
Put Me Back In That Tub!
[Originally published to the old baby blog.]
Here is another batch! It’s actually not all of what came off the camera that round, but it’s what I have ready to go. She absolutely adores baths, especially in her new tub, and as you can see, hates being taken out for drying and dressing.
Carnival of… Solutions?
When I saw the link to Carnival of Solutions over at Dean’s, I was thinking “interesting name for a tech blogging roundup.”
That’s not what it turned out to be. Will it fly? Looks like the idea is each week Pennywit lays out a problem, which you’ll see a fine example of in this launch post, and the submissions will be solutions proposed for that problem. Intriguing use of the power of blogs, no? Here is the closing synopsis and submission info that explains what CoS is about:
This forms the basis of this week’s Problem.
Given: A person who has been convicted of a crime and imprisoned for a period of several years has been set back significantly, both in terms of lost wages and in terms of lost years.
The Problem:How should such individuals be compensated for their wrongful imprisonment? What factors should be taken into account in setting such damages? What venues and procedures are appropriate for handling these claims?
If you have a Solution, please write it on your blog and e-mail a link to me. The best Solutions will be linked to from a new post on Thursday.
The Ground Rules are as follows:
1. Please confine your Solution to the problem.
2. You Solution should be at least 500 words long and explore the Problem thoroughly.
3. Please make your Solution original, and/or creative.
Why be part of the precipitate when solutions abound?